Teaching About the Immune System

Tough Topic!

(Made Easier with these warm ups and interactive notebook pages.)

I have a love/hate relationship with the immune system.  I love teaching it.  It is interesting, confusing, amazing, and mind-boggling.  Students are interested in this topic, they are more alert on these days, and they ask great questions.  This is where the "hate" part comes in.  I am just a science teacher, with multiple college degrees, but I have NOT been to medical school.  When teaching about the immune system, students LOVE to ask you all sorts of medical questions.  Some I can answer, but many I cannot ... and should not ... even attempt!

So what's a science teacher to do?  Even though I don't know about every medical condition known to man, I still enjoy teaching about the immune system.  I love the lines of body defense, infectious diseases, the Germ Theory, and Koch's Postulates.  Lymphocytes and antibodies are the best!  I can get really excited and animated when talking to students about the specificity of antibodies, how they are made in the body, and why we get sick, but later have immunity.

Keep your students focused on the important information.  Avoid medical issues, and refer the students to their physicians when those sorts of questions arise.  My newest set of warm ups and interactive notebook pages on the immune system is a perfect way to keep the students directed, focused, and on task.

Click image to
view product.

My "modified" version of interactive notebook pages are not "foldables" and they do not require any elaborate cutting, pasting or folding.  They are truly "NO PREP" and perfect for a high school classroom where every valuable minute of our class time must be utilized as efficiently as possible.

The student pages are half-page in size and easily inserted into their student notes.  I like to have my students keep a warm up notebook.  These pages are perfect for the first few minutes of class.  Students begin to work on them immediately as they enter the classroom.  The review and reinforcement nature of the pages provides ample opportunities for students to master the information.  I use these pages as warm ups, homework assignments, and even as short daily quizzes.

The warm up notebook is the best method of test prep I have found, both for the unit tests as well as for the semester exams and end of course exams.

Here is a preview to what is offered in my Immune System Warm Ups.

Best of luck in your teaching!